undressing Anne Sexton

[Todd]

This is a powerful write. Billy had mentioned it in a comment on one of my poems so I went looking for it. It was definitely worth finding. I love this! I would be posting too many lines to say what works for me.

kill me pills

a rowboat idles at the shore,
as tiny as a child's toy,
or a socialite's poodle.

The cigarette imagery

idiosyncratic metaphors
fall from your lips
like sweet faux pas,


your breath a gin
distillery,

always in love with Death,
the one man who played
hard to get, would not be
wooed those early years,
but offered you his hand
that day inside the garage
of the gas.
I envy your relationship.

you stand in your undergarments, cold,
I lay you on the yellow grains,
remove your cigarette, and flick it near
the shushing tide. like an audience filling
each bare theatre seat, the stars emerge
through their veil of black, and I undo
your soft white bra, spread your thighs
to reach your knickers, pure white lace,
not gossamer, but seductive
nonetheless.

you're my mother, my mistress,
my incestuous dear,
my teacher of death
and of love and of fear.

So, go ahead and just quote the poem Todd Even what I left out I like. This idea of getting so into this person. This idea of knowing even though you don't know. In some sense, being brought into intimate connections through her words. Identifying with her need to die. The ending is stellar.

It's a great poem. It has power, and you're somewhat changed by reading it. It's what art is supposed to do.

I mention Sexton briefly once in one of my works (nowhere near this good) and my friend recently published a poem about her reaction to Sexton's death in Boston Literary Magazine. She shared the same psychiatrist with Sexton when she was in her teens. The psychiatrist passed on some of her poetry to Anne. Here's the link in case you're interested:

http://www.bostonliterarymagazine.com/fa...exton.html

Just fantastic work!

Todd